i heard an interesting review of a soccer game this morning. the european championship’s happening at the moment so people are kind of crazy about soccer right now (sheesh…). it wasn’t the game that caught my interest, on the contrary i was just about to turn the radio off when i recognised something funny. everybody talked about the star of one of the teams – the team that lost to be precise. where was he? why didn’t he work his magic? what was wrong with him? and in the interviews with the winners it was something like ‘we concentrated on him. we controlled his every move. we didn’t let him come into the game…’

first thing that came into my mind was a question: isn’t soccer supposed to be a teamwork-game? there’s 11 guys in one team, so what about the other 10? or even better, there’s 22 guys on the lawn – so what about the other 21?

on the one hand it might just have been for the media. he is the star so everybody asks and talks about him. but on the other hand we’re facing a common mistake. soccer is about teamwork, as is traffic (the one on the streets with cars and stuff you internet-freaks…), as is making music. most of the times the singer is the ‘star’ in a band. he/she’s the one the people in the audience pay attention to, look at, listen to and so forth. one reason for that is the vocals are mostly in front while the instruments provide the background. another reason is the fact that the singer uses an instrument everyone possesses, so the audience identifies with the singer rather than the guitarplayer. even if the singer sucks and the guitarist is awesome. a good singer makes a good band (from the audience’s point of view), a bad one destroys even the best band. to all of that there are exceptions of course but generally speaking this is it.

now, there’s not much we can do about how the audience thinks and that’s fine. if there has to be an anchor for the people it might as well be the singer. the mistake i was talking about is something different. the bands themselves are making it because lots of times the singer doesn’t just play the role of the ‘star’, he actually thinks he is the star. and no matter whether or not his bandmates share this believe, the band has a problem. i’m not talking about real stars here, where it really is about them and the band is meant to be the background. i’m talking about the ‘band next door’, maybe your band.

if you’re going to see or play a live-gig in the near future, try to really pay attention to what’s going on up there. if you show up early enough you might even see the soundcheck which is a perfect chance to observe the behaviour of anyone involved regarding the ‘sort-of-stardom’. if you’re actually in the band showing up early might be a good idea anyway. for example compare how much time is being spend on the different instruments during the soundcheck. if the voice takes longer than a complete drumkit you have your first clue…. so just go out and watch carefully. watch the band and the audience, find out if there really is a ‘star’.

needless to say (at least i hope so), that losing the teamwork-aspect is the mistake i was referring to earlier. a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and the same rule applies to a band. it’s not about the singer or anyone else. it’s about the team and only about the team. and that’s where i come back to the soccer match. i didn’t watch the game (and i’m not talking about the game but the surroundings, the vibes…) but i know that making it all about that one guy was one big step towards losing…